UPDATE 2:
Three-hundred and sixty-four (364) signatures from members of the General Tribal Council of the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin have been collected for a petition to dissolve Tribally-chartered Oneida Seven Generations Corporation and will be presented to the Tribal Secretary’s office today, Tuesday July 9, 2013.
In other words, 600% more signatures that required and 70% of the number of signatures that a petition to remove elected officials from the Oneida Business Committee requires to qualify for review.
Hopefully that next step can be avoided and current and prospective OBC members will understand GTC’s writing on the wall:
GTC does not want the Oneida Tribe nor its corporations to be involved in the business of building or marketing incinerators, and GTC can defend itself if OBC persists in attempting to pursue such endeavors.
Oneida Eye will report as events unfold.
Tonight, Monday July 8, 2013, the Oneida General Tribal Council will gather for a Special GTC Meeting at 6 p.m. during which more signatures will be sought in support of the dissolution of the Tribally-chartered Oneida Seven Generations Corporation. Fifty signatures are required to bring that petition before GTC for a vote and so far hundreds have been collected.
The petition signatures will be delivered to Tribal Secretary Patty Hoeft’s office on Tuesday July 9 and then will be sent by the Oneida Business Committee for legal, legislative and financial analysis by various departments of the Tribe for a period of 30-45 days after which time reports will be submitted to OBC and a date will be scheduled to present the matter to GTC for a vote.
There are rumors that some Tribe members will be attempting to gather signatures for a petition to remove Chairperson Ed Delgado from office.
The Oneida Tribe’s Constitution states:
The General Tribal Council may at its discretion remove any official on the Business Committee by a two-thirds majority vote at any regular or special meeting of the Tribal Council, pursuant to a duly adopted ordinance. Such ordinance shall fix the specific causes for removal and insure that the rights of the accused are protected, including his receiving in writing a statement of the charges against him and assurance on sufficient notice thereof where he shall be afforded every opportunity to speak in his own defense.
What’s the motive to remove Chair Delgado?
Oneida Eye hasn’t seen the wording of the removal petition nor been informed of any examples of conduct rising to the level of reprimand let alone dismissal.
Based on the reputation of the characters behind the removal effort – as contrasted with the highly ethical and fair-minded leadership consistently displayed by Chairperson Delgado – it seems entirely unlikely that the Appeals Commission will bring the subject before GTC, let alone result in a vote for ouster which would require 2/3 of GTC Meeting attendees to support the motion.
In all likelihood, this misguided effort is the product of diehard fans of remnants of a regime which now realizes much to their chagrin that GTC will no longer abide failed-business-as-usual misleadership by OBC nor the squandering of the Tribe’s resources and reputation by Tribally-funded corporations, and this is merely the attempt of a cabal that preferred simpler times when information and documentation was difficult to obtain or share and efforts to organize could be thwarted with threats preying on employment or housing insecurities as well as concerns for personal safety.
Times have changed and GTC has been empowered to avail itself of the facts and act boldly in self-defense against OBC, yet some officials and their lackeys are unwilling to abide by the insightful words of the Constitution of the Iroquois Nations:
Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.
UPDATE: This removal petition is foolish, but Ed ‘Dirtbag’ Delgado has proven himself to be a lying, racist jerk who shames the Office of the Chairperson and the Oneida Tribe:
